The year in transit: Good riddance, 2005; resolutions for 2006

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in," said the late Kansas City Star columnist Bill Vaughan. "A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." For Chicago-area transportation officials, 2005 couldn't end soon enough.

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in," said the late Kansas City Star columnist Bill Vaughan. "A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." For Chicago-area transportation officials, 2005 couldn't end soon enough.

Our pride in being America's transportation hub was more about hubris than hub-and-spoke enhancements last year. Our long list of disappointments suggests we need a fresh start.

Joseph Schwieterman is director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University.

Midway's second-largest airline, ATA, and the largest carrier at O'Hare, United, remained in bankruptcy all year. Employee relations at United wilted and it dumped its pension obligations  a move copied by rivals and other industries, as well.

The General Assembly ignored the obvious need for structural changes at the Chicago Transit Authority, instead delivering a bailout package that postponed an inevitable day of reckoning for an agency saddled with inefficiency.

Our congressional delegation's effort to secure adequate funding to relieve rail-freight congestion mysteriously derailed. This project could do for freight movement what O'Hare modernization is supposed to do for air travel.

For several months, Chicago lost its claim to having the world's busiest airport and faced stiff opposition to O'Hare's expansion. Adversaries brought the project to a halt for several weeks. Meanwhile, Peotone proponents had a rough go of it, and the Gary and Rockford airports had "rebuilding years," struggling to maintain even minimal service.

Springfield again sidetracked proposals for high-speed rail service to St. Louis, leaving new-track investments to rust.

And Chicago ended the year ranking sixth nationally in the amount of road congestion suffered per rush-hour driver, one notch worse than the year before.

What transportation issues seemed to dominate state and local government decisionmakers? Hired trucks and licenses for bribes.

Nevertheless, we should count our blessings. We were spared the tumult of a terrorism attack on our transportation systems like those in London and Madrid.

And 2005 was relatively safe. No one was killed in the horrific Nov. 23 Metra crash that demolished more than a dozen cars. And even as our hearts go out to the family of 6-year-old Joshua Woods, who died in the Dec. 8 Midway accident, and the families of the two women who died during the summer's Rock Island line derailment, we must be grateful that the loss of life was not worse.

A New Year's resolution for our politicians: Emulate your brethren at the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, the once-inflexible bureaucracy now listening and reacting to the needs of the public.

As 2006 dawns, let's hope local, state and national officials resolve to work more closely to ensure the Chicago area perpetuates its role as America's premier transportation hub.

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